Analysis Of Discourse Markers In Verbal Communication From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Discourse Markers can cover some adverbs, conjunctions, interjections and even some certain phrases or small clauses, which are frequently and widely used in our daily communication and the use of discourse markers is a pragmatic device peculiar to verbal communication. The appropriate use and proper understanding of discourse markers constitute an important and significant aspect in people’s pragmatic or communicative competence; because a good command of discourse markers cannot only help language users achieve coherence in communication, but also can help them manage the on-going communication flexiblely and successfully. As for the scholars at home and abroad, there is still no certain agreement on the definition of discourse markers at present. However, from the result of recent researches, most scholars consider it an undisputed fact that the discourse markers’high frequency and various functions appear in verbal communication. Although discourse markers do not make any impact on the truth value of the utterance they are attached to, and are also not restricted by the syntactic structure, the proper use of them not only makes great impact on the construction and interpretation of the discourse in verbal communication, but also plays a considerable part in the pragmatic appropriateness and maintaining personal relationships among people on the social level. Therefore, it is of great significance to research the discourse markers in verbal communication.In recent years, scholars from home and abroad have researc hed discourse markers from various perspectives such as syntacti c-pragmatic perspective, semantic-pragmatic perspective and cogn itive-pragmatic perspective, however, all these researches only tou ch on some aspects of discourse markers, and fail to make a co mprehensive account and analysis of discourse markers. The pape r tentatively applies Adaptation Theory proposed by Verschueren to the analysis of using discourse markers in verbal communicati on, aiming to pursue a thorough and comprehensive account of d iscourse markers.The Adaptation Theory proposed by Jef Verschueren plays as a complete and comprehensive theory for the study of discourse markers in verbal communication from a pragmatic perspective, which can provide a fruitful and comprehensive explanation for why discourse markers are used in verbal communication and how they function in communication from linguistic, cognitive, social and cultural perspective. In the process of verbal communication, according to the three properties of language:variability, negotiability, adaptability, language users consciously or unconsciously make constant language choices to realize their communicative goals.Proceeding from an analysis of the features and goals of v erbal communication, and based on the framework of Adaptation Theory proposed by Jef Verschueren, this paper gives people a clear explanation about the cause of discourse markers’existence and the condition of their forming. After analyzing the conflict between the features and the goals of verbal communication, it c an be concluded that the use of the discourse markers is the res ult of choice-making among various communicative strategies bri dging the gap between the conflicts. Then still based on Adaptati on Theory, the choice-making is converted from macro communi cative strategies to micro linguistic forms of discourse markers. The speaker’s choice of one form of discourse marker rather tha n another is adaptation-driven for the achievement of a successfu1communication, not only adapting to the dynamic contextual co rrelates, but also to the structural objects of language. At the sa me time, the whole selection process of using discourse markers is dynamic rather than static. And the choice-making of discours e markers takes place with different degrees of salience.